SAED HINDASH/THE STAR-LEDGERDevon Inman goes through drills as Piscataway's football team holds skills day along with a few former players at Piscataway High School.

Saturday's aptly titled editorial "Caution in the heat" is well worth reading and following its advice. It makes common sense to avoid sports problems related to practicing or playing in hot weather, especially with football.

Additional caution should be taken if the surfaces are artificial turf, because that can elevate the temperature on the fields considerably. In an NPR program article last August, it was noted that at Riverside Park in Manhattan, "in the shade it's 86 degrees. But out in the center of the soccer field where kids are playing soccer, the sun is directly overhead. Holding his thermometer waist-high, he gets a reading of 160.6 degrees Fahrenheit."

The reason why the fields become "heat islands" is due to the black, recycled tire particles that make up the cushion layer under the green plastic synthetic surface. There are other concerns, such as the possibility of toxic fumes from the tire particles and very serious turf burns. To avoid the burns, the players would need to wear additional protective clothing, which is unfortunately not something you would want to do on hot days.

Pete Thurlow, Bernardsville

Too many taxes

I recently had the opportunity to stay in a non-gaming hotel in Atlantic City. The cost of the room, including valet of my car, was $309.35 for the evening. A little excessive but, in season, I guess it is what it is.

What shocked me was the total cost of the room -- $353. What made up the other $43.65 you ask? State sales tax on the valet, Atlantic City luxury tax, state occupancy tax, New Jersey sales tax and Atlantic City occupancy tax. More than 12 percent in taxes on money I have already paid federal, state and local taxes on when I earned it. I guess the folks in Trenton forgot the breathing-New-Jersey-air-while-alive tax.

Brutal, just brutal.

Patrick Eichner, Mountainside

Taxing clunkers, too

Leave it to our illustrious, tax-happy Gov. Jon Corzine to find another way to dip into our pockets. Not only has he raised just about every tax we have, but he has thrown in a couple more just to kick us in the teeth.

First, he taxes lottery winnings, and now the cash for clunkers program ("Despite tax on clunkers, car buyers still trading," Aug. 2). Not only do you have to pay taxes on the vehicle when you buy it, but how many of us knew the potential $4,500 from the federal government is also being taxed 7 percent? That means before you even buy the vehicle, you are into it for $315. Talk about double dipping.

I don't care who is running against Corzine in November, that person has my vote.

Mike Santucci, Watchung

The clunker bubble

Have we all forgotten the causes behind the massive housing bubble that recently collapsed? And forgotten the tech bubble of the late 1990s, too? It appears the feds have, and here they go again creating a "microbubble" that has to do with new cars.

Current demand under the clunker hype became irrational in just one weekend, compared with the big bubbles that usually take years to inflate. Like all bubbles, the clunker bubble is eating into future demand. Clunkees who would have replaced their clunkers eventually accelerated their purchases by several months. The surge in demand may make the political-class feel good, but this is another bubble that can not last.

The long term will not produce any additional sales and future generations will be stuck with the car payments.

The program is a clunker that will benefit few while costing us all.

Robert MacDonald, New Providence

Buy American

The cash for clunkers program is a windfall for car dealers everywhere. Too bad President Obama didn't have the foresight to make the rebate conditional on purchasing only American cars. The play money he is working with could come back to the U.S. public.

This program, which destroys the clunkers, also removes cars that could be used for parts. Some of us on the bottom of the economic scale can't afford a new car, even with a rebate. We still need used parts for our drivable clunkers.

There was a news report about an unemployed young woman. She said she was holding off buying a new car as long as possible because she was out of work. The rebate program swayed her and she bought a new car because of it. What part of unemployed doesn't she get? Let's loan money to people who can't pay it back; what could possibly go wrong?

Jarvis (Jay) Knapp, Hardwick

Doesn't make the point

Congratulations to Paul Mulshine ("Medicare: a single-payer system," Aug. 2). I have been running a competition in my head for the most ridiculous argument against a single-payer health care system and he is clearly the winner.

Mulshine found a person among the 45 million Americans covered under Medicare who had a screw-up in payment. I was shocked beyond belief.

He did neglect to notice, however, the recent series of polls on customer satisfaction that find Medicare way ahead of private insurers, but that is clearly not as compelling as the issues faced by the person in his selected case. He then quotes a person with "insight" who happens to work for the very conservative Heritage Foundation whose "sense" is that Medicare is trying to save money by denying claims. Which, if true, would only make Medicare as bad as private insurance, whose sole purpose is to make money by denying coverage.

Finally, Mulshine, to be fair, does provide evidence that Medicare did make a big mistake. It hired a for-profit company to manage claims.